Page images
PDF
EPUB

unto them, I never knew you: y depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

24 Therefore 2 whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and

y Psa. 5. 5; 6. 8; chap 25. 41.

a

Luke 6. 47,

48, 49.a 1 Sam. 2. 30; Prov. 14. 1; Jer. 8. 9;

doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Luke 6. 49; James 2. 20.-b Chap. 13. 54; Mark 1. 22; 6. 2; Luke 4. 32.c John 7. 46.

others, of whom Simon Magus was the bed of sand from which the river has father. Depart from me-You belong retired. When the rains set in, which to the dark side of the universe. Work they do often very suddenly, accompa iniquity-Though professors of righteous-nied with violent northwest winds, the ness, they were workers of iniquity. According to the test given in 15-20, their fruits condemned them.

(5.) We stand only by obedience to Christ's words, 24-27.

water pours down in torrents from the mountains. In one night multitudes of these huts are frequently swept away, and the place where they stood is the next morning undiscoverable."

Our Lord now arrives at the final 28. Jesus...ended...people...astonconsummation to which the whole dis-ished-Truly might they wonder at one course has tended. So the judgment who claimed that he was their final is the final consummation of all the world's history.

26. Heareth...doeth not-It is not the mere hearing, nor believing, but the doing these sayings which places our house upon the rock. Faith cometh, indeed, by hearing; but faith must be justified by works.

27. Our Lord gives a vivid contrast in the pictures of the rock-founded and sand-founded house, drawn from the natural scenes of Palestine. It is the foundation that is the main thing. The house built upon the rock could not be undermined; but the light structure erected upon the beach, when the windy storms poured down and swelled the floods around it, soon found its base gliding from under it. Great was the fall-"The fishermen of Bengal," says Mr. Ward, in his View of the Hindoos, "build their huts in the dry season on

judge.

29. Having authority-Not relying on rabbis, or elders, or prophets, or even upon Moses; but as one greater than they all. The authority, original and unappealable, resided in his own Divine person.

The Sermon on the Mount contains a summary of all the great moral principles and cardinal doctrines of the Gospel, except the atonement. His own divinity, as the superior of Moses and the final judge of men, is fully asserted; man's fallen and evil nature, the needs of the Holy Spirit to salvation, the duty and success of prayer for its bestowment, are affirmed; faith in Christ as the only rock of safety, the necessity of renouncing self and the world, and giving ourselves by faith to God, whereby we may be regenerated into sons of God, are plentifully explained; holiness

[ocr errors]

CHAPTER VIII.

2 a And behold, there came HEN he was come down a leper and worshipped him,

multitudes followed him.

canst make me clean.

a Mark 1. 40, &c. Luke 5. 12, &c.

of heart, Christian perfection, purity, are described and required in explicit terms; probation, the final judgment, and everlasting retribution, are depicted in the clearest colours; and though the CROSS is not fully presented, yet that spirit of faith is powerfully inculcated, by which the cross, in the fulness of time, would be embraced with full purpose of heart.

§ 29.-FIRST MIRACLE-CLEANSING THE LEPER, 2-4.

2. Behold...a leper-A living instance of the receptive faith alluded to in the closing lines of our comment on the last chapter, now steps forward in the person of a leper. How do afflictions sometimes urge us to Christ! The leper, who had, perhaps, been in the outskirts of the congregation, had seen his works and heard his words of mercy, comes with the language of humility and confession on his lips.

The wonderful reports in regard to Jesus had drawn the multitudes from various parts to hear him. (iv, 25.) As Jesus arose and walked down the moun- Leprosy, in its worst form, was one tain toward Capernaum "great multi- of the most terrible of diseases. It betudes followed him." (viii, 1.) How much, gan with red spots upon the body, in regard to the Messiah, they under-grouped in circles, and covered with a stood, is not clear; but it cannot be shiny scale or scab. It became, generdoubted that many a heart was begin-ally, incurable, and so corrupted the ning to open with receptive faith for his religion. Alas! how may counter influences blast the fairest hopes!

CHAPTER VIII.

system that it became hereditary for generations. The body crumbled, the limbs fell apart, and the man literally went to pieces.

To

Yet it seems not to have been clearTEN MIRACLES are now narrated by ly contagious. Hence Mr. Trench forciMatthew in the following two chap-bly argues that all the provisions made ters; not arranged in chronological order, but selected, apparently, as specimens of the Saviour's divine works. In the Sermon on the Mount, in the last three chapters, our Lord is exhibited as teacher; in these chapters he is presented as a performer of those works by which the divinity of his teachings is demonstrated. Of these TEN, five are narrated in this chapter, as follows: 1. The cleansing of the leper; 2. Healing of the centurion's servant; 3. Curing Peter's wife's mother of a fever; 4. Stilling the tempest; 5. Dispossessing the two demoniacs of Gadara.

1. Come down...mountain-He descended the slope toward the shores of Gennesaret, where stood Capernaum, his present residence. Great multitudes followed-His vast congregation moved with the preacher toward the city. See the closing comment on last chapter.

against it by Moses, placing its examination under the care of the priest, and exiling the man, when clearly a leper, from society, were established as a matter of ceremonial uncleanness. impress the lesson of the corruption of sin upon men, the touch of a dead body and every contact with the circumstantials of death, rendered a man unclean. From among diseases, leprosy was selected as the emblem of moral un. cleanness, and subjected to priestly examinations, to banishment, and to every abhorrence which could indicate his utter moral defilement. Lev. xiv, xv. All this arose, not from the special wickedness of the man himself, but to present him as a physical representative of the depravity belonging to our inmost nature.

Worshipped-The word may signify the reverence paid either to a human

3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

b 2 Kings 5. 11.

4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that

c Chap. 9. 30; Mark 5. 43.

its approach; it purified what it touched.

or to a divine being. Doubtless, sorrow had so subdued this poor leper, that he was ready to believe this benefactor to be either human or divine, as himself should claim. He could not, indeed, fully measure the amount of power or divinity residing in the Lord's person, and so his reverence was sus-ly through the system, the eye recovers ceptible of any appropriate measure.

Immediately his leprosy was cleansed -How sweet must have been the sensations of renewing health and wholeness. The crumbling limbs renew their shape, the blood flows quick

its brightness, and the voice its music He stands up once more in his pure, vigorous manhood; and scarce can he wait the Lord's commands, before he must rush through the country, a living wonder, to tell the story of his salvation.

Contrary to the order of Harmonists generally, yet without making any alteration in the Synopsis, I have supposed in my notes upon this miracle, that it was performed in the order followed by Matthew, namely, immediately after the Sermon on the Mount. For proof that this is uncontradicted by either evangelist, see supplementary note, page 351.

4. Tell no man-Our Lord on many occasions forbade the subjects of his beneficent miracles to speak of them; and on others he directed them to be proclaimed abroad.

[graphic]

The bowing (called often worshipping) Readers are puzzled to know the reaof the Oriental people is low and formal sons from which he acted. Perhaps the in proportion to the intended reverence following views will make this clear: paid. A simple inclination of the head 1. Our Lord did not wish to avoid is ordinary civility; a low and deliber- the full confession of his deeds of merate curve of the body indicated deep cy on the part of their objects. This respect; a prostration, with the face is fully illustrated in the case of the upon the ground, was the most worshipful homage.

Lord-Similar varied meanings belong to this title. It may signify the same as our Sir, indicating the respect we pay to man; or it may be a most solemn compellative of God, answering to Jehovah itself.

3. Touched him-It was contrary to law to touch the unclean leper. But here was a finger which could contract no uncleanness; impurity fled from

woman healed of the issue. See on Mark v, 33. 2. Why, in this case of the leper, and similar cases, he commanded silence, is fully and conclusively explained by Mark in his account of this miracle. The man cured of this leprosy did not obey our Lord; and the inconvenient consequences show what the evils were which our Lord wished to avoid. (Mark i, 45.) He went out and began to publish it loudly, and to bluze abroad the matter, insomuch that

d Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

h

said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he

8 The centurion anwered and doeth it. d Leviticus 14. 4, 10; Luke 5. 14.-e Luke 7. 1, &c. f Job 31, 13, 14; Acts 10. 7; Col.

Jesus could no more enter into the city, but was without in desert places. How our Lord was incommoded by crowds, will appear from many passages. See Mark iii, 9, 20. The thoughtless populace were, moreover, liable, in some fit of enthusiasm, to attempt to make him a temporal king, and so embroil him with the government. See notes on Matt. xii, 16-21. 3. Our Lord most I wisely desired to be the selecter of his own preachers and proclaimers. He justly esteemed it not according to a divine order, that devils should be the free testifiers to his divinity. Nor was every man who was the object of his mercy well qualified by dignity, prudence, understanding, or accuracy, to give a correct impress of his divine power and mission. His own apostles even, after long training and more than one trial, did he find scarce fit to utter his truth or proclaim his deeds and character. His only proper expositor, except in peculiar cases, was himself.

4. Why he bade the demoniac of Gadara publish his deliverance abroad is explained in our comment on the place. (See on Mark v, 19.) Our Lord was about leaving that country, and so was not liable to the inconveniences mentioned above; he was leaving many traducers, and so needed one outspoken defender and preacher.

But...show thyself to the priest-Some commentators suppose that the Saviour silenced him until he had seen the priest, in order that the priest might

3. 11; 4. 1; Philemon 16.-g Luke 15. 19, 21. h Psa. 107. 20.

pronounce him clean, uninfluenced by any rumour of his miracles. But our Lord utters no until. He gives the man no permission to proclaim it after he has seen the priest. A testimony unto them-That they may know that a mighty cleanser is here. It was a most suitable case to present to the priesthood, because it came by law under their notice, (Lev. xiv, 2, 10, 21,) because of its peculiar symbolical significance, and because of its demonstrative character. It was a problem which they would be at a loss how to solve, but by admitting his divine mission.

$37.-SECOND MIRACLE-HEALING THE

CENTURION'S SERVANT, 5-13.

5. Entered into Capernaum-From the Sermon on the Mount. CenturionA Roman captain over a hundred men, As Lake Gennesaret was a water of no little traffic between northern Syria and Palestine, so Capernaum was a port of revenue, and the abode of a Roman garrison to keep the turbulent Galilean peasantry in order. The centurion on the present occasion was evidently one whose residence in Palestine had detached him from the paganism of his Roman education. He had traced in Judaism evidences of truth which touched his heart. He almost seems a prototype of Cornelius in the Acts.

9. I...under authority... Go, and he goeth-The centurion here utters to the Lord a beautiful parable. As I am a

10 When Jesus heard it, he 12 But the children of the marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

11 And I say unto you, That - many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:

i Gen. 12. 3; Isa. 2. 2, 3; 11. 10; Mal. 1. 11; Luke 13. 29; Acts 10. 45; 11. 18; 14. 27; Romans 15. 9-12; Eph. 3. 6.

captain on earth, thou art captain of the armies of heaven. As I send men and they obey, so canst thou send death or life, disease or restoration, and they shall obey thy order.

As the preceding miracle was performed with a touch, so this was done through distance of space.

10. No, not in Israel-The entire chosen people of God is now thus signally surpassed in faith in its own Messiah by this poor incoming Gentile! How striking a commentary upon the apostle's words, Rom. ix, 31-32: "Israel hath not attained to righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith."

kingdom'shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou has believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. 14 And when Jesus was

m

k Chap. 21. 43.- Chap. 13. 42, 50; 22. 13. 24. 51; 25. 30; Luke 13. 28; 2 Pet. 2. 17; Jude 13. m Mark 1. 29, 30, 31; Luke 4. 38, 39.

heirship by birth, and the spiritual guests are the true children of Abraham.

Outer darkness-The figure of a banquet is carried out. The splendour, the joy, the society, the feast within, are an emblem of God's kingdom below and above. The darkness of the streets without is an emblem of deep horror. The streets of Eastern cities are narrow and filthy; all the outdoor comfort being reserved for the court or square yard enclosed within the area of the building. At night they are totally dark, being unillumined even by rays from a window. Robbers and ferocious dogs render them dangerous. We have thence a strong image of that utter despair, darkness, and death of a soul excluded from God, and left to weeping and gnashing of teeth.

11. Many...from the east and westOur Lord here predicts the call of the Gentiles to occupy a place in the Gospel dispensation. With Abraham-They should become his spiritual descendants, and occupy the place of his natural off-§ spring. Sit down-Rather recline. The image is taken from a banquet, and the ancients did not sit at table on chairs, but reclined upon couches. Kingdom of heaven-Both above and below.

12. Children of the kingdom-Natural Jews. The kingdom of heaven, that is, the Gospel dispensation, including the kingdom of glory as well as of grace, is represented as a divine banquet, in which, while the Jews, the natural children of the kingdom, are excluded, the repentant Gentiles take their couches with Abraham and the other ancestral patriarchs. The heirship by faith is substituted for the

28.-THIRD MIRACLE-HEALING PETER'S WIFE'S MOTHER, 14, 15. The peculiarity of this miracle seems to be that it was performed upon a person who would remain a present and permanent witness of the fact. It would, no doubt, contribute its share to produce that firm and earnest faith in the heart of Peter, the most eminent of the apostles, which he displayed so conspicuously in life and in death.

14. And when Jesus was come into Peter's house-This third miracle in Matthew's group was performed on our Lord's previous visit to Capernaum, (Mark i, 29–31,) before the delivery of the Sermon on the Mount. It took

« PreviousContinue »